The UK Government has decided that it will respond to potential terrorists with an ad on Pakistan TV with the following key aims:

‘to ensure Pakistanis realise the west is not “anti-Islamic”, that British society is not “anti-Islam”, to demonstrate the extent to which Muslims are integrated into British society and to stimulate and facilitate “constructive debate” on the compatibility of liberal and Muslim values.

It is recruiting prominent British Muslims to say that there is no contradiction in being a Muslim and British. Al Qaeda and his allies will be quaking in their boots as the Government spends £400,000 broadcasting these adverts.

These daft schemes come about when the Government listens to people with self interest in becoming ‘leaders’ in the Muslim communities in the UK. Do Pakistanis not know that there are millions of Muslims living in the UK and in the West who have all rights to practice their religion and that British society is not anti-Islam – do we need to spend £400,000 for that message?

A would be terrorist is not going to do a u-turn after he has watched these adverts. It is an ideology that terrorists follow which allows the killing of citizens of any country they believe is not governed by Islamic Law according to them regardless of how many Muslims reside there. They are not concerned with a country being anti-Islam – their goal is to govern every country based on their interpretation of Islam.

All the Government needs to do is look at why the terrorists have carried out bombings in Pakistan to realise this instead of playing silly beggars with gimmicks on issues such as terrorism. Why are Pakistani nationals carrying out bombings in Pakistan, a country founded on Islam and killing innocent Muslims? If the Government works this out, it won’t end up wasting resources on daft schemes designed to massage egos instead of dealing with terrorists.

The increased tensions between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks is precisely what the terrorists set out to achieve.

India is under huge domestic pressure to provide a swift and proper response to Pakistan not least to jolt Zardari’s Government into taking action against cross border terror raids and to rein in the ISI who India accuses of supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group being blamed for the attacks.

Doing nothing would make India look weak, leave the ruling Congress Party open to the charge of being soft on terrorists denting its electoral chances next year and worse, invite further attacks.

But would any military action against Pakistan prove counter productive and actually increase militancy? Look at this potential scenario and the risks associated with an attack on Pakistan:

India increases the number of its troops on the border with Pakistan or launches a pre-emptive strike against specified targets in Pakistan.

Pakistan retaliates and moves its troops to the border with India and there is a tense stand off at best, or worse, a full scale battle.

As a result Pakistan reduces troops from its border with Afghanistan giving greater freedom of movement to various militant groups to launch attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Militant groups increase their activities and are able to recruit more people to their cause especially against the ‘Hindu enemy.’

Even a minor skirmish gives oxygen to militants everywhere and increases the risks of further terror attacks in India not least from home grown terrorists. The Kashmir situation is exacerbated by militant activity.

The freedom of movement between Pakistan and Afghanistan gives groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda a chance to re-group and launch more audacious attacks in Afghanistan destabilising the country further.

The US responds to the increased attacks with raids into Pakistan with fighting on two fronts of Pakistan which leads to the fall of the civilian Government with either the military or Islamist backed rulers coming to power.

The confrontation between India and Pakistan ends with no discernible outcome except the strengthening of militant groups in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan and further destabilising of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Militant groups are strengthened and are in a stronger position to launch attacks not only in Asia but the Middle East and the West.

India will take action, its people will demand it but will it show restraint and avoid steps leading to the above scenario or punish Pakistan and take a risk? India is standing between a very hard rock and a rock hard place.

A leaked government intelligence report notes that there are ‘thousands’ of extremists active in the UK ‘principally engaged in spreading their extremist message, training, fund raising and procuring non-lethal military equipment to support the Jihads in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, and sending recruits to the conflicts.’

This document re-confirms the fact that the ideological message of Islamist groups such as Al Qaeda is having an effect on young men living in this country to such an extent that they are prepared to indiscriminately kill as many people as possible. Often Muslims cite the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the main reasons why they think some Muslim men are attracted to extremism. While these reasons may be contributing factors, Muslims need to accept that there is an overriding ideological reason as espoused by Al Qaeda and its like whose followers believe in the indiscriminate killing of people as a way of furthering their cause. This ideology whose supporters we have recently seen in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and other African and Middle Eastern states has no qualms about killing Muslims if they are seen to support the West let alone non-Muslims. This extremist ideology is spread using the Internet, university campuses, small study circles and other similar methods to brainwash young men into believing this ideology is the only way forward and must be followed.

Muslims in this country need to be vigilant especially parents of teenagers to ensure young men who may be angry at world events do not allow this anger to be channeled towards a path of destruction by extremists who are extremely professional and dedicated to their cause. Blaming foreign policy is not an answer, the Islamist ideology must be tackled head on.